I just returned from family vacation in Waco, Texas. What an adventure. We had flights scheduled and went to be packed and ready to fly early the next morning.
INSTEAD, we received a message at 2:15 AM that our flights were canceled AND they couldn’t rebook because they’d canceled over 300 flights touching down in Atlanta. . So, we began looking at other airlines. But, what if they were canceled? I was getting more nervous by the minute. I looked at my husband and said, “We need to drive.” He agreed and by 3:00 we were in the car driving to Texas. Thank goodness there was an open gas station in town, because we had less than 1/4 of a tank.
It was foggy and rainy the first three hours of the trip, and when you leave the coast you have to take backroads for the first couple hours. We questioned our sanity, but this vacation was with our sons, daughters-in-law and grandkids. I didn’t want to miss a minute. So, we drove 1200 miles in 19 hours. We only stopped for gas and food, and we ate meals in the car, because again, I didn’t want to miss a minute of family time.
The week was amazing, and the trip home was another adventure. We began our trip early Sunday morning. In Mississippi, we stopped for lunch/dinner. We heard thunder rumbling. We finished our sandwiches and walked to the door to leave, and it poured down rain.
This doesn’t do justice to the storm. Ninety minutes later, it let up, and we walked to the car. There were accidents in both directions on the interstate, and we took a detour. Guess what? There was an accident there too. So, we felt blessed to have been in a dry place to wait out the storm.
As we approached the Georgia line, the car began shaking. We made it to the hotel. The next morning, we went to a tire place and learned BOTH tires on the drivers’ side were separating.
This chicken greeted us when we pulled up to the tire place. Her name is Chick-chick. That’s another story, but the people were so nice and they had our tires in stock. So, with two new tires, we were back on the road.
We feel blessed to have made it home safely. Will I drive to Texas again? You bet, but there is definitely less drama flying.
Next time I’ll share more about our trip to Texas.
Jackie Layton 